Renovation Experts

Sara Freder

12/17/11

The borough of Queens is one of the original 12 counties of New York State, and the borough takes up the same space as the County. Currently, the Queens real estate market is one of the most ethnically diverse of any in the city of New York, with a population of 2.21 million as of the 2000 census, and more than 47% of it being made up of immigrants.

The history of the borough of Queens is intimately tied to the Queens real estate market - even as far back as the original settlement of the eastern half of Long Island by the Dutch and English, there have been disputes over ownership, and negotiated settlements - access to natural harbors and beaches suitable for anchoring ships, oystering and docking fishing boats drove the original speculation of the Queens real estate market. What drives it now is the access to Brooklyn and Manhattan, which is right across the water. Many of the New York City "skyline bridges" connect to Queens, making the locale scenic, and one of the ones used extensively for movie and television series shoots.

Were Queens segregated out as a separate city on its own, at 2.2 million people, it would be the fifth largest city in the United States - Brooklyn would be fourth. The overall structure of the Queens real estate market is commercial space dominating the southeast corner, and spreading out to urban living at the northeast, and gradually turning more suburban as you move eastward; many of the dominant communities in the Queens real estate market are single family homes on small plots of land, and most of the new construction of real estate in the Queens market is effectively re-development as single family home plots are bought up and turned into rental properties.

One of the driving forces behind the dynamism of the Queens Real Estate Market is its proximity to Manhattan - it's a shorter commute and not nearly as pricey as living in the eastern end of Long Island is, making it the home of middle class residents, rather than the micromansions of the rich, though some communities in the Queens real estate market are upper end, such as Astoria - still, communities, such as Flushing and New Hempstead are still quite affordable.

If you're looking to enter the Queens real estate market, either as a home buyer, or a renter, there are several venues where you can get specific information on particular neighborhoods. If you're interested in Commercial real estate investment, the queens real estate market is less inflated than Manhattan, but is still quite profitable on a buy-and-hold strategy - buy-and-flip is not currently recommended for this market due to the chaos of the securities markets at this time.